Donald Trump has joined criticism of the Democrat Senator Al Franken after he was accused of sexually assaulting a journalist.
Leeann Tweeden, a morning news anchor for Los Angeles radio station 790 KABC, has claimed that Mr Franken forcibly kissed her and groped her breasts during a 2006 tour of the Middle East to entertain US troops.
Ms Tweeden released an accompanying photo in an article on her experience that appeared to show the former comedian groping her while she sat asleep on a cargo plane.
The US President took to Twitter to condemn Mr Franken.
“The Al Frankenstien (sic) picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps?” he said.
Mr Trump then referenced a joke allegedly made by Mr Franken in 1995 in which he suggested a Saturday Night Live sketch where he would give CBS News reporter Lesley Stahl pills and “take her to the closet and rape her”.
He said: “And to think that just last week he was lecturing anyone who would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women. Lesley Stahl tape?”
Mr Trump's comments about a tape have, however, drawn attention to the fact that the US President was himself accused of sexual assault by 16 women, and was captured on tape in 2005 boasting to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush about sexual assault.
In comments that rocked the US presidential race after they became public in September 2016, Mr Trump said of women that he could “grab them by the p***y” as he was a “star”.
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